Glow in the Dark Party shines a light on new semester

The Residence Life Quad was filled with students with pizza in one hand with glowsticks in the other and singing along to “Pop Out” by Polo G.

The Glow in the Dark Block Party was part of Southern’s annual Week of Welcome, and was primarily hosted by Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, but had support from other Greek life groups on campus and from neighboring schools. Pizza and snow cones were provided and students wore glow sticks on their wrists and necks or held them in their hands.

Katia Bagwell, president of her chapter of Zeta Phi Beta, said her sorority got together and decided they wanted to do something for first-year students. Bagwell said she estimated roughly 200 to 350 students attended.

Jurea Mcintosh,the Zeta Phi Beta secretary, said they decided to go with a glowstick themed block party because they thought it would be cool to do.

“We were like, ‘Oh, let’s have a little party,’ and thought it’d be cool to be glow in the dark theme,” said Mcintosh.

She said that they thought the glow-in-the- dark theme was cool and would help to “make it lit.”
Some of the students said they were “not really digging” the block party, while others said they were having an incredible time.

One of the students at the block party was biology major Joseph Vimaria, a freshman, who was decked out in glowsticks. He said he was trying to “make it lit” by attempting to be the one with the most glowsticks.

“I like the music,” Vimaria said, then added, “I just wish there was more stuff to do.”

Other students, like psychology major Brianna Jones, a sophomore, were a bit more critical of the block party.

“When I got here at first it was a little slow,” said Jones. “It’s better now, but it depends on who you’re friends with.”

Jones said that she felt that it was too soon to hold this type of event because not a lot of freshmen know each other yet and have not reached the comfort level to interact with others.

Others, like social work major Arianna Rivera, a sophomore, thought the block party was nice, but the DJ could have been better. She said the line for pizza was confusing and the quad’s streetlights made it more challenging to use the glowsticks.

“I think they should have turned off some of the lights since it is glow in the dark [theme],” Rivera said.

She said aside from those complaints, she felt that the Zeta Phi Beta sorority did an awesome job with the block party.